Arsenal took a giant step toward the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals with a stunning 7-1 thrashing of PSV Eindhoven in the first leg of their Round of 16 tie, ending a four-match winless streak at the Philips Stadion in emphatic fashion.

The Gunners started brightly and thought they had an early breakthrough, only for Declan Rice’s finish to be ruled out for offside.

Moments later, they survived a major scare when David Raya’s parry from Ivan Perišić’s cross fell to Ismael Saibari, whose powerful strike crashed off the crossbar before Ryan Flamingo sent the rebound wide.

Arsenal immediately punished the hosts for their missed opportunity, with Rice floating a cross to the back post, where Jurriën Timber rose highest to head home. Three minutes later, two Hale End graduates combined as Myles Lewis-Skelly set up Ethan Nwaneri, who clinically finished becoming the third-youngest scorer in Champions League knockout history. 

Arsenal’s relentless attacking play continued, with Mikel Merino capitalizing on defensive chaos to fire in a third. However, PSV pulled one back before halftime when Thomas Partey fouled Luuk de Jong in the box, allowing Noa Lang to dispatch the penalty with confidence. Rice and De Jong had chances before the interval.

Arsenal reasserted their dominance just over a minute into the second half. Martin Ødegaard found the net with a well-placed strike, and incredibly, the visitors struck again just 99 seconds later, as Leandro Trossard linked up with Riccardo Calafiori before dinking a clever finish over Walter Benítez. 

PSV attempted to respond through De Jong, but Arsenal continued to dictate proceedings, with Nwaneri’s effort forcing a deflection behind and Gabriel heading off target from the resulting corner.

Ødegaard then added his second, gliding to the edge of the area and finding the net despite Benítez getting a hand to his shot. The Norwegian playmaker later turned provider, setting up Calafiori for Arsenal’s seventh, sealing their biggest away win in Champions League history. 

Meanwhile, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti was pleased with his side’s resilience as they earned a 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid at the Bernabeu. This was after a hard-fought first leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie on Tuesday.

Atletico manager Diego Simeone was disappointed that his side failed to capitalise on the control they had for long periods of their 2-1 defeat to rivals Real Madrid. But Simeone said he was happy with how his team reacted to conceding an early goal.

Elsewhere in Europe, Aston Villa will take a two-goal lead into the second leg of their UEFA Champions League last 16 tie against Club Brugge after scoring twice in the closing stages at Jan Breydelstadion.

Playing a first knockout game in Europe’s top competition since 1983, the visitors made a lightning-fast start. They took the lead inside three minutes via Leon Bailey’s second goal of the season. They won the match 3-1.